


A Little Bit Like a Hero

by Upsidedown10



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Panic Attacks, Sensory Overload
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 17:18:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13815816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Upsidedown10/pseuds/Upsidedown10
Summary: Hinata has a panic attack and Asahi swoops in to save the day





	A Little Bit Like a Hero

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up being longer than I intended but I just love the idea of Asahi helping Hinata through a panic attack. I hope it turned out as good as I wanted!

Hinata knew he should be feeling excited. Or hyped or enthusiastic or thrilled or at least calm. But he didn’t feel any of those things. His stomach felt like *glurg* and his head *thump thumped* as he followed his team into the unknown gym. It was just a practice match, so why was he feeling like this? He barely managed to bow and he didn’t manage to join his team in thanking their hosts for having them. Who were they playing again? His brain was full of fuzz. He tried to push it away like he always did, tried to be his normal self, tried to - 

“Did you hear me, Hinata? Hey, you okay?” Tanaka gave him what was usually a friendly pat on the back, but today, Hinata flinched away from the touch. 

“I-I’m fine.” He stuttered, trying to pull his brain past the fuzz.

“Feelin’ nerves again? This is only a practice match, though!” Tanaka said.

“Uhh, yeah, I guess.” Hinata lied, but this feeling, this was very different from his usual pre-game nerves. His stomach was twisted around and his hands were shaking. When did that start? Tanaka must have wandered off somewhere because when Hinata looked up again, he wasn’t there. How long had he been standing there alone? He glanced around the gym until his eyes found Kageyama. Yeah, he could go stand by Kageyama, right? Even if he was talking with Suga at the moment. 

Hinata scuttled along the edge of the gym until he reached Kageyama and Suga. He tried to listen to what they were saying, but for some reason, the fuzz wouldn’t go away and his hands wouldn’t stop shaking. He wrapped them around his middle to try to stabilize himself. What was going on? Why was he feeling like this? There was no reason to be nervous. He thought he got over that ages ago. He took a deep breath and used all the tricks he knew to get rid of his nerves, but he had a feeling that they wouldn’t work because this was entirely different. And that little feeling started to grow. What if he didn’t calm down in time? His stomach tightened. What if he never calmed down? What if this feeling lasted forever? It already felt like forever.

“Oi! Start your stretches and warm up! Are you listening or have you lost even that ability?” Kageyama demanded, just like always, but this time it wasn’t just like always. He was talking too loud, cutting through the fuzz in his brain. 

“Are you okay, Hinata?” Suga asked kindly and his voice wasn’t as loud, but it was still too loud. Now everything was cutting through the fuzz, everything was too loud. His hands were still shaking. The lights were too bright. And then, the worst happened. Someone must have brought out the volleyballs for practice because the room exploded with the sound of the volleyballs bouncing off the gym floor. The worst part was that the sound usually excited Hinata, but today it only scared him, making his stomach clench and his hands tremble even more. People were yelling, screaming in his ear and it was too much, too much, too much. He wanted it to stop, even if it meant bringing back the fuzz.

Hinata wanted to shut everything off and curl into himself, but he only managed to crouch down and clench his hands to try and stop the shaking. He wanted it all to stop. He heard people talking right next to him. Were they talking to him? His stomach was trembling. His whole body was trembling. His brain was trembling. He closed his eyes. He was curling in on himself. Everything was black, black, black.

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Asahi was talking with Daichi and Ennoshita when he heard it.

“Asahi!” Suga’s voice cut through casual chatter and the sounds of warm ups. It was panicked and sharp and immediately drew his full attention. With a glance at Daichi, he quickly made his way over to Suga’s voice and the small crowd gathering. 

“Suga, what’s wrong?” Daichi asked, but Asahi had already seen everything he needed to. Suga was right to call him. He’d seen Asahi in this state before.

“I think he’s having a panic attack. He was acting strange and then -” Suga began, but Asahi didn’t have time for his explanations. 

“Suga, come with me. Daichi, stay here and -”

“Got it.” Daichi confirmed quickly, always one step ahead. He started spouting orders at the gawkers, but Asahi didn’t listen. He was focused on the tiny ball that was Hinata’s shaking figure. As gently as he could, Asahi lifted Hinata from the ground and made his escape, Suga on his heels and Kageyama right behind him. Hinata was curled into him and Asahi could feel his entire small body wracked with tremors. 

The club room was dark and quiet. Perfect. He considered placing Hinata on the bench, but dismissed it with the image of him falling off, opting instead to settle him on the floor. Space. Quiet. Dark. Calm. Breathing. Water.

“Suga, get us some water?” Asahi said deliberately quiet. He didn’t turn, but he heard the door open and close. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Kageyama asked more tentative than Asahi had ever heard. 

“Can you close the blinds, please? He’s probably having a panic attack. It seems like sensory overload to me.” Asahi said.

“Sensory what?” Kageyama was at least trying to be quiet. The room darkened a moment later.

“When sounds seem too loud and lights seem too bright. It seems like he couldn’t take it so he shut down.” Asahi said, crouching in front of Hinata and slowly reaching out to touch his wrist. Asahi gently pulled on his wrist until he had Hinata’s open palm in his.

“Will he be okay?” Kageyama asked in a whisper.

“Yes,” Asahi responded before addressing Hinata, “Hinata? I’m going to draw a circle. As I go up, breathe in, as I go down, breathe out. Let’s do it together.” Asahi used his other hand to draw half a circle on Hinata’s palm, breathing in slowly. He exhaled as he rounded the top and completed the circle. Then he did it again. It took a few times before he could see Hinata responding to him and trying to breathe with him. Soon after, Hinata stopped shaking.

Asahi wasn’t sure how long it was, but he tried to focus on his circles as Suga returned and had a short, whispered conversation with Kageyama. Asahi and Hinata were breathing in unison and both were focused on Asahi drawing circle after circle onto Hinata’s palm. Then something changed. Hinata pulled back a little and blinked up at Asahi.

“Asahi-san,” He whispered, “What?”

“You had a panic attack down in the gym. We’re in the club room now. How do you feel?”

“I-I don’t know. I feel like *shoo* ya know? Why is it dark?” Hinata asked as he glanced around.

“You had sensory overload I think. Were sounds too loud and lights too bright?” Asahi asked, all compassion.

“Oh yeah. It was like everything was more.” Hinata said before standing, “but you helping me Asahi-san! Thank you! How did you know what to do?”

“Oh, umm I-I know the feeling.” Asahi said, feeling uncomfortable, “But Suga called me so it’s okay now.”

“It was instinct.” Suga said. He always had good instincts, but he probably could have done this himself. He’d helped Asahi through too many panic attacks to count. 

“Do you want some water?” Asahi asked and Suga jolted, remembering he had a bottle in his hand. Hinata gladly accepted and downed half the bottle in a gulp.

“Oi, Hinata,” Kageyama said, but without it’s usual bite, “Don’t, um, don’t scare me like that again, dumbass.” He turned and left the club room before Hinata could respond. Asahi and Suga shared a knowing glance. 

“I’ll go talk to coach and give you some more time.” Suga offered, smiling gently at Hinata before slipping out behind Kageyama. 

When Asahi looked back to Hinata, he was sitting on the bench. Asahi wordlessly joined him.

“You saved me, Asahi-san,” Hinata said quietly, “I was all alone and it was fuzz and then the fuzz was gone and it was too much.”

“I know how it feels. I’m just glad I could help.”

“You’re so cool, Asahi-san! You knew just what to do!” Hinata said, just like his normal self again. His sudden shift in attitude surprised Asahi.

“I could umm, teach you the tricks sometime. I mean, I you want.” He said, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Yeah, that would be awesome!”

By the time the two of them returned to the gym, everything seemed normal with Hinata, so Asahi let him bounce off to talk with a fearful-looking Yamaguchi.

“And then Kageyama said ‘don’t scare me like that again, dumbass’ and ran away.” Suga was saying to Daichi when he approached. That gossip. He had a problem.

“Leave them alone, Suga.” Asahi chided, feeling exhausted. 

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a full-blown panic attack.” Daichi said.

“Yeah, you sure were a mess, Asahi.” Suga added. 

“Hey, I-oof!” Asahi crumpled as he received a blow to the gut. His attacker grinned at him.

“Asahi-san! Look at you, a hero whisking the poor Hinata away from the danger.” Nishinoya said.

“I’m no hero, I just wanted to help.” Asahi said, trying to get his breath back.

“That’s what heroes do. You can’t back out of it now!” Nishinoya ran before Asahi could respond.

“I guess you’re a hero now, Asahi.” Daichi said, lifting an eyebrow.

“Well, you are to Hinata.” Suga said.

Asahi watched Hinata talk with the other first years, waving his arms enthusiastically. When Hinata glanced over at him and smiled his sunshine smile, Asahi couldn’t help but feel a little bit like a hero.


End file.
